Monthly Archives: February 2011

A Weekend of Sledding

This past Saturday and Sunday all three of us enjoyed a little get-away in the northern Wisconsin woods for the first year residency retreat. The highlight of the weekend was our trip to the tubing hill. What is it about a hill covered in snow mixed with the whooshing of freezing wind past your ears as you fly downward on a rubber tube? It’s an adventure at any age!


We bundled Ella in her pink snowsuit and boots, plopped on her hat, and tried to convince her it really was for her own good that she keep her mittens on. We weren’t great examples. Neither Pete or I had hats since we had only planned for Ella to go sledding. I had pictured a gentle hill, a small ditch perhaps, for her first true sledding excursion. Instead we ended up here with a bunch of crazy docs who, in typical resident fashion, went well above and beyond the regular tubing style. (Think three tubes, one person.)


Ella absolutely loved it! She was incredibly brave as the three of us barreled down the hill, side-by-side. Then Daddy would pull her back to the top (a great reason to always go sledding with Daddy) and we would do it all over again. We kept this up until Pete & I realized how cold our ears were.

So back to the cabin we went where we cozied up to the fire and continued to relax. It was a lovely mini vacation, indeed.

Oh! I almost forgot! Here is a video of Ella’s first trip down the hill. It’s a bit rough in places, but I was, after all, speeding down a hill for most of the recording. If you expand it to full screen, you may be able to see it better.


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Recipe: French Silk Pie


Last week I was asked to bake a few things for our residency retreat over the weekend. I know that it’s not usually the greatest idea to try out brand new recipes for such occasions, but I felt I’d be forgiven if something didn’t turn out. Besides, when you’re staying in a cabin in the woods surrounded by gorgeous trees and lakes, the snow is falling, you’ve got a glass of wine or a really good cup of coffee, doesn’t everything just seem okay? Add that to the fact that there were six kids in the cabin all under the age of 2 1/2 and I’m pretty sure anyone would have eaten anything with a half-way sophisticated flavor.

So after a little searching, I narrowed my choices to two pies and a batch of fudge brownies. I had wanted to make biscotti, too, but I was already a little behind on class work, so I dropped that one. (Thanks to those of you who helped me come to that conclusion.) The first pie was a lovely, simple French silk that I found on allrecipes.com.

This recipe requires very few ingredients and not a lot of time. The only thing you’ll have to know is that the filling needs to be chilled for a while before serving it, so plan ahead. It’s completely up to you whether you want to buy a crust or make one. If you decide to make one, my mom’s no-fail pie crust works beautifully.

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup white sugar
2 (1 oz) squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted & cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 prepared 8 inch pastry shell

Cream butter in a mixing bowl. Gradually beat in the sugar with an electric mixer until light colored and well blended. Stir in the thoroughly cooled chocolate and vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating five minutes on medium speed after each addition. (The filling may not set well if you rush this.) Spoon the chocolate filling into a cooled, baked pie shell. Refrigerate at least two hours before serving.

I also recommend covering the top in fresh or store bought whipped cream and sprinkling bits of chocolate across the top. You can’t see that in my picture because I actually made the pie four days before serving it. And guess what? It still tasted amazing. (Mind you I only had one bite. I’m just starting phase two of this round of P90X and I’m trying to be really good.) I’m thankful for cold weather in such a situation because I never once had to put it in a refrigerator. It stayed perfectly cool in the back of the Jeep. So if you need to bake something ahead of time, this is the one to pick. I thought the brownies would fare better. I was wrong. They were dry. Blah.

Let me know if you end up trying this fairly simple recipe. It’s delish!

Enjoy!


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